Dorky and the Dragon
by CushiKitten92
Summary: A Tale as old as time, and true as it can be. Both a little scared, neither one prepared… You know where this is going. Beauty and the Beast with a twist. Toothless/Hiccup.
1. The Legend of the Night Fury

**Title:** The Legend of the Night Fury

**Summary:** A Tale as old as time, and true as it can be. Both a little scared, neither one prepared… You know where this is going. Beauty and the Beast with a twist. Toothless/Hiccup.

**Warning**: Eventual slash, mature themes, I guess.

**Disclaimer:** What part of FAN FICTION is hard to understand? I don't own Beauty and the Beast, and I don't own How to Train Your Dragon. They belong to whoever they do. I'm not here to make money; I'm just here to entertain.

_Once upon a time, in a far away land, where gods lived and breathed as mortals do, there lived a god named Loki and a god Baldur. One night, Baldur dreamed. In his dream, he saw his death, and in his fear, he made all beings on earth swear to never harm him. All, except the mistletoe. _

_Loki, a trickster god full of mischief, tricked the blind god Hoor into killing Baldur, his brother. All gods wept at the loss Baldur, who gave love and happiness to all. In his anger, Thor threw his hammer Mjollnir to the ground, just as Hel opened her gates to let out a flood of tears._

_Mjollnir struck a stone submerged in Hel's tears, before returning to the hand of Thor. The stone turned into an egg that hatched into a child. Loki found this child, and raised him as his own. He named this child _Night Fury, the unholy offspring of lightning and death.

_The child grew to become a prince, who lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, he was spoiled, selfish, and unkind. _

_One night, an old beggar woman came to the castle, offering him a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold. Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the prince sneered at her gift, and turned the old woman away. But she warned him, not to be fooled by appearances, for beauty was found within. And when he dismissed her again, the old woman's ugliness melted away, to reveal the goddess Frigg, wife of Odin the Almighty and mother of Baldur. She had planned to take the life of Loki's child in return for her child, but could not do it. Instead, she had devised a test, an homage to her son Baldur, who had been light and beauty and love and happiness. But this child of Loki's had failed, and must now pay the price._

_The prince tried to apologize, but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart. And as punishment, she transformed him into a beast, and placed a powerful spell on his castle and all who lived there. Ashamed of his monstrous form, the prince concealed himself in his castle, with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world._

_The rose she had offered, was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his twenty-first year. If he could love another, and earn love in return, by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. _

_As the years passed, he fell into despair and lost all hope, for who could ever learn to love a beast?_

**A/N:** Well, there's the prologue. The story proper is about to begin. Should I incorporate lyrics from the movie just as dialogue, or should I make it songfic-esqe? As always, I welcome any and all feedback.


	2. Ingerman Ink

**Title:** Ingerman Ink

**Summary:** A Tale as old as time, and true as it can be. Both a little scared, neither one prepared… You know where this is going. Beauty and the Beast with a twist. Toothless/Hiccup.

**Warning**: Eventual slash, mature themes, I guess.

**Disclaimer:** What part of FAN FICTION is hard to understand? I don't own Beauty and the Beast, and I don't own How to Train Your Dragon. They belong to whoever they do. I'm not here to make money; I'm just here to entertain.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third was tired of Burk. Every single day was exactly like the one before it, and if it wasn't, it made you wish it was. Burk was the kind of place where you were never dry, where it snowed nine months of the year, and hailed the other three. It was great if you liked looking at dramatic landscapes, but if you'd lived there all you life like Hiccup did, the place lost its drama pretty fast.

But it wasn't the landscape that Hiccup had trouble with. The landscape was just fine. He was used to it, after all, He'd been _born_ here. No, what Hiccup really wanted to get away from were the people of Burk. Like, right now.

Every single day, since Hiccup could remember, he'd woken up at the crack of dawn to visit his best friend, Fishlegs, who minded the town bookshop while his parents were away, which was always. Thinking about it, Hiccup was surprised that Burk had a library, but since it occupied him, he guessed it didn't really matter.

So, since he went to the bookstore every day, you'd think the people of Burk would get used to that, but no. As he walked down the street, past that single bread-making Viking who made horrible bread (_He_ could do better than that!) and made the same thing every day, he could still hear them whispering behind his back.

"…there goes that Hiccup.."

"…poor Stoick…"

"…I still can't believe it, he looks so _normal_…"

Hiccup _hated _being born in Burk. Everyone knew everyone, which meant anyone who was anyone knew his secret, his shame. He ducked his head as he passed a couple of young bucks eyeing him wearily.

"…freak…"

He felt his face heat up as he passed, and as he walked slipped into the Ingerman Bookstore.

'_There's got to be more to life than more of this…'_

"Good Morning, Fishlegs."

"Good Morning, Hiccup."

Meet Fishlegs Ingerman, Hiccup's best friend. Fishlegs was the only one in Burk who could give Hiccup a run for his money in the reading department. Fishlegs was tall, and he used to be thinner than Hiccup, but the years of immobility spent reading were catching up to him, apparently, because Hiccup would eat his own hat if Fishlegs could still touch his toes.

"Here's that book I borrowed."

Fishlegs held his hand up absentmindedly (and in the wrong direction) for the book. He pushed his glasses up with his other hand as he kept on reading.

"Took you long enough." Fishlegs said, without any real irritation in his voice. He looked at the number of the page he was on before getting up to return Hiccup's book to its rightful place. Books were about the only thing Fishlegs could keep in any kind of order. Hiccup had to gingerly hop between the loose odds and ends in the Ingerman Bookstore before he could get to the shelf he was aiming for.

"Hey, Fishlegs, I'm going to take The Dragon Manual, okay? I'll bring it back in a week." Hiccup called out, hopping to the door.

"A week!? How could you take a whole week to finish one book?!" Fishlegs wanted to know.

"I read it more than once, you blockhead." Hiccup laughed.

"More than once!?" Fishlegs was shocked. Well, he tried to act shocked, but Hiccup could hear the joking tone in his voice.

"Yeah, Fishlegs. Some people _savor_ reading a book. We don't hork it all down the way you do."

"You're just jealous I can read faster than you can." Fishlegs said smugly.

Hiccup reached the door. _'Finally'_ he thought. _'Maybe I'll help Fishlegs (or rather, make him help me) clean the shop up a little when I get back.'_

"I'll be back later," Hiccup called over his shoulder as he left. "I just need to run some errands for my dad."

"Tell him and Gobber I said Hi" Fishlegs replied.

"Will do!" and Hiccup was gone.

**A/N: ** Here we have a glimpse of Burke, Hiccup, and Fishlegs. Be honest, are they too out of character? I'm trying to make it a mixture of the book series and the two movies, and I'm not sure I'm succeeding. Also, are the lyric shout-outs noticeable?

As always, feedback is appreciated!


	3. You're Positively Feudal

**Title:** You're positively feudal.

**Summary:** A Tale as old as time, and true as it can be. Both a little scared, neither one prepared… You know where this is going. Beauty and the Beast with a twist. Toothless/Hiccup.

**Warning**: Eventual slash, mature themes, I guess.

**Disclaimer:** What part of FAN FICTION is hard to understand? I don't own Beauty and the Beast, and I don't own How to Train Your Dragon. They belong to whoever they do. I'm not here to make money; I'm just here to entertain.

As he left the store, Hiccup visibly retreated into himself. He put his nose in the book to avoid prying eyes. As he walked to Gobber the Belch's Blacksmith shop, he deftly avoided obstacles in a way that would have made even Astrid, the town's best, proud. It was a saying in Burk, that Hiccup was never more coordinated and careful than when he wasn't paying attention.

**Thwok!**

An arrow shot past Hiccup, burying itself into the wood he'd just passed, barely missing him. And while Hiccup didn't notice, the person who shot the arrow did.

"Hiccup!" yelled Snotlout.

And miracle of miracles, Hiccup looked up! He looked around and caught sight of Snotlout, looking genuinely pleased (if a bit uncomfortable) to see him. Hiccup closed the book he was reading (one of the best compliments he could give) and turned to talk to his cousin. Who was positively livid.

"Hiccup!" he cried.

'_Oh, great,' _Hiccup wanted to rub his face with his hands, _'Now _everyone_'s looking'_. Not that they weren't looking before, but this was worse. Now they actually had something to _look_ at. But Snotlout wasn't done yet.

"Look at the arrow behind you! I could have _killed_ you!" Snotlout shook Hiccup by the shoulders, which made Hiccup drop his book right into the mud. Hiccup sighed. He turned around to look the arrow and humor Snotlout…

… and nearly poked his eye out on the arrow's nock. Even Hiccup was a bit taken aback. It was _close_. Snotlout reached over Hiccup's shoulder to snap the shaft (presumably so no one would get poked by the protruding arrow), but Hiccup stopped him.

"Don't. It'll be easier to remove the head if the shaft's still attached to it."

"Right."

Hiccup looked around. The people around them suddenly sprang back to life, as if they'd never stopped working to gawk in the first place.

'_Fakers,'_ Hiccup thought crossly. He picked his book up, and started walking again. As he expected, Snotlout fell into step beside him. Hiccup opened the book again, only to have it snatched away by Tuffnut, who held it above his head. Hiccup was Not Amused.

"Give me back my book, Tuffnut." Tuffnut ignored him.

"How can you read this?" Tuffnut asked. He threw the book over to Ruffnut.

"Yeah," Ruffnut agreed. She scrutinized the pages (as much as she could while keeping the book out of Hiccup's reach) "It doesn't have any pictures or _anything_."

"Some people use their imaginations," Hiccup snorted. He made a particularly brilliant leap, and Ruffnut had to pass the book on to Astrid. Hiccup didn't even try to get it back from her. She could kill him with her pinky finger and had no problem showing him. She skimmed the pages then shut the book.

"This book is just about dragons." She sneered. "It's useless. Dragons are pests. Our _real_ problems are the Meathead and Bog Burglar Tribes."

She threw the book to Snotlout, who (after being mysteriously useless for the past few minutes) handed it back to Hiccup. Astrid left, with Ruffnut and Tuffnut in tow for some training, leaving Hiccup and Snotlout alone.

"You should keep better control of your friends," Hiccup said, dusting off the book's cover.

"I can't really, you know, _control_ them." Snotlout scratched the back of his neck. "But they've got a point. You should focus on more important things, like training to become stronger, so that you can lead the tribe when the time comes."

"Me, lead?" Hiccup laughed.

"You _are_ the chief's only son. We can't exactly pick anyone else."

"_You_ do it. You're my cousin, you're as much the heir of the Hairy Hooligans as I am."

Snotlout looked aghast. "We can't do that. This isn't _The Republic of Rome_! And I was adopted, remember? Not a drop of royal blood."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "How positively feudal of you, Snotlout." He said.

"Thank you," Snotlout replied. "Of course," He said sneakily "If we got married, our problems would be solved. I could rule through marriage and you can have as much free time as you want under _my_ protection."

Hiccup stiffened. While men marrying men weren't uncommon in Burk (not enough women), Hiccup, in particular, refused to marry _anyone_. Because marriages in Burk just _had_ to be consummated. People knowing about his…defect was completely different from someone actually _seeing_ it. He shook his head.

"You know I can't, Snotlout. We're _friends_."

"Ah well," Snoutlout said lightly, "can't blame me for trying!"

Snoutlout watched as Hiccup practically ran off, with a mumbled goodbye, face once again in a book. Snotlout started walking towards the training grounds as soon as Hiccup was well and truly out of sight.

When he got there, the others were well into training, throwing axes and punches at each other. They just sort of tolerated Hiccup, because they didn't know yet what a great chief Hiccup would make.

To be honest, Snotlout wanted to become the chief of the Hairy Hooligans too. But ever since the day Hiccup had saved his life, he'd _known_ that Hiccup had something that would make him a better leader, and a good Viking always put the good of the tribe before anything else. If he married Hiccup and became chief himself , Hiccup wouldn't be able to resist meddling in his decisions (because they were married, and Snotlout's father said that all wives meddled), effectively becoming chief in everything but name.

Snotlout smiled and yelled as he dived into the 'training' (read: fight). He'd have to settle for being second-in-command, then!

**A/N: ** This has got to be the most out of character Snotlout ever. I was going to make him an exact copy of Gaston, but then…it just sort of turned into this. I was writing this at 2 in the morning, and I had class tomorrow. Is it that bad?

Anyway, Toothless will be along in the next chapter. As always, feedback is appreciated!


	4. Bye Dad

**Title:** Bye Dad.

**Summary:** A Tale as old as time, and true as it can be. Both a little scared, neither one prepared… You know where this is going. Beauty and the Beast with a twist. Toothless/Hiccup.

**Warning**: Eventual slash, mature themes, I guess.

**Disclaimer:** What part of FAN FICTION is hard to understand? I don't own Beauty and the Beast, and I don't own How to Train Your Dragon. They belong to whoever they do. I'm not here to make money; I'm just here to entertain.

Hiccup arrived at his house just as Stoick finished packing his things. Hiccup was surprised. Were they going on a hunting trip? Stoick turned to greet his son.

"Ah, Hiccup, just in time! Did you get those extra arrows from Gobber for me?" He asked.

Hiccup resisted the urge to slap his palms to his face. He _knew_ he was forgetting something. Stupid Snotlout, distracting him like that.

"Sorry, Dad," Hiccup apologized. "I guess I forgot." He looked at his shoes.

Stoick gave him a strange look for a moment, so quick Hiccup was sure he imagined it, before giving a big laugh that sounded fake and forced even to Hiccup.

"That's okay, Hiccup" He said "You'll remember next time." He gave Hiccup a pat on the head.

"I'm going dragon hunting, okay? Be careful while I'm gone." Stoick said as he was leaving. Hiccup couldn't take it anymore.

"Uh, Dad!" Hiccup winced at his own voice. That was loud. Okay. Deep breaths. "Maybe I could, I don't know, go with you?" He gave a half-hearted smile.

"Uh…you see…um," Stoick fumbled for the right words. He couldn't find them, so he just said.

"Maybe next time, Hiccup." And he left. Hiccup wondered why that answer still disappointed him.

_**PAGEBREAK**_

"What am I going to do with him, Gobber?" Stoick took another swig of his beer.

"Hiccup? That's easy; let him train with the others. We need more warriors to fight those Meatheads." Gobber replied.

"I'm serious."

"So am I!"

"Are you kidding? He'd be killed by the other children, never mind letting those Meatheads taking a whack at him."

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do!" Stoick sighed. "He has the… he was born different, I guess."

"How do you know that?" Gobber wanted to know. "You weren't there. You just found him in the cabbage patch, remember?" Gobber chuckled. That would never get old.

"You know how he is," Stoick was dead serious. "I take him on a fishing trip, and he nearly drowns looking for mermaids. He's just not reliable," Stoick tapped his temple with a finger. "Has the attention span of a sparrow."

"When he was just a baby," Stoick started. (Gobber rolled his eyes. _'Here we go…'_)

"When Hiccup was just a baby, Me and Valhallarama, we didn't know what to do. We decided to raise, well, a _him_, but he seems so unhappy. Maybe that was a mistake. "

"Now, don't say that." Gobber said. "It's like I told him just a little while ago, it's not what's outside that counts. I mean, take a look at that little girl Astrid. _She_ could wipe the floor with any of the young lads her age."

"So, Hiccup's weak _on the inside_?" Stoick sounded more hopeless than ever.

"I didn't say that." Gobber sighed. "You've just never given him a chance, Stoick. He was sickly as a baby, so you protected him, I get that. But you have to let him do things on his own. Which is to say, _stop bailing him out of his own messes_. And let him at least train with a real sword, for Odin's sake"

Gobber took another sip of his beer, and choked on a small rock. They were silent for a while. Stoick because he was thinking, Gobber because he was choking.

"Maybe you're right." Stoick said as he pounded on Gobber's back. "You know, he always wants to go dragon hunting with me."

Gobber finally caught his breath. "You see? He may not want to fight the Bog Burglars, but he'll keep them dragons away."

"Tell him to meet me by the inland lake west of Raven's Peak in two days." Stoick smiled. "We're going dragon hunting."

_**PAGEBREAK**_

"Augh, I don't _believe_ this." Hiccup ranted to himself. This was the worst day ever.

He walked through town for the second time that day, feeling foolish. How could he have forgotten to get his father's arrows? He was nearly shot by one this morning! He had his eyes set determinedly forward as he marched on to Gobber's blacksmith shop. He was there on most days, helping sharpen swords and fix broken shields. But winter was coming, so business had been slow. During winters, he only went there every other day, more to keep warm and experiment than anything.

'_This is exactly why he still treats me like a little kid.'_ Hiccup thought sullenly.

Hiccup remembered a time when Stoick got angry at him for messing up. Nowadays, he didn't even bother. His dad treated him with this strange mixture of acting like he was waiting for Hiccup to fall short, but never being disappointed in him. That hurt. Hiccup briefly wondered what it would be like if his father actually had dreams for him, expected more from him than failure. Hiccup wondered if it was because he'd been born different.

He smiled a little and slowed down as he remembered the story his mother and father used to tell him every night before… well, Before.

_Once upon a time, in a far away land, there was a cat, who could turn into a boar or a mare as she wished. But what she really wanted was to turn into a goat, for she was in love with a goat, who could run faster than the wind itself. But she could never tell the goat she loved him, for she lived in the clouds above, while he lived on the earth below._

_The goat, she didn't know, loved her as well. But he could never tell her, for he was just a goat, and she deserved more. _

_At night he would wish on the stars,_

'_Please, please,' he'd say, 'I'd do anything for her, for she is my life and I love her. If I could speak to her just once, I would go to my grave content.'_

_The others who lived in the clouds heard his plea. So they stole her shoe, and dropped it to the earth, where the goat would find it. When she found her shoe was gone, she descended to earth to look for it. _

'_Where is my shoe?' she cried. The goat came forward, and said._

'_Here is your shoe.' And he returned it. _

_He saw that she was the cat whom he loved, and she saw that he was the goat she loved._

'_It is you!' they said. And they knew that it was fate that had brought them together. They made love, and had a child._

"And do you know who that child is?" Hiccup's parents would ask.

""It's me!" He would reply.

'_The story doesn't make any sense.'_ Hiccup thought, now that he was much too old for fairytales.

The boy arrived at Gobber's blacksmith shop, surprised. He hadn't noticed how he'd walked all the way there.

"Hiccup!" Gobber said, surprised. "I was just about to come get you!"

"You were?" Hiccup was curious.

"Your father," Gobber said "Wants to take you dragon hunting the day after tomorrow."

"That's not funny." Hiccup drawled, Not Amused. "Seriously, did you need my help or something? Does someone want a new sword for their wall?" Designing and making weapons for display was one of the things Hiccup was very good at.

"I'm _not_ kidding!" Gobber said, exasperated. "Why does everyone think I'm kidding all the time?" He wanted to know.

"You're _serious?_" Hiccup was stunned. A great big smile started to spread across his face. "That—that's _Awesome!_"

'_Finally, he's giving me a chance!'_ Hiccup thought jubilantly.

"Bye, Gobber, I've got to get ready!" He said hurriedly as he left the shop. _'This is the Best Day Ever!'_

"Hey!" Gobber called out. "He also said not to forget the arrows this time!"

**A/N: **Sorry for the late update. I made a first draft, but I decided Hiccup was too angsty, so I scrapped the entire thing and started from scratch.

The story's kind of taking a life on its own. And I didn't think mythology would play such a big part of it, but there you go. Those of you more familiar with Norse and Greek gods will probably see what's coming. I'm trying to drop as many hints as possible without spelling it out, so no one's blindsided.

To those of you wondering where Toothless is (**Randomstrike**, I'm looking at you.), I'm sorry it's taking so long. He's probably going to appear in the chapter after the next, but I'm not making any promises.

Oh, and the Green Death doesn't exist here so the dragons don't really "raid" the vikings, so they're more pests than anything. The same way wolves must be pests in, like, Russia or something. Or coyotes in Australia.

As always, feedback is appreciated. Special thanks to **Alana-kittychan** and **Tiara shin** for reviewing more than once!

Thanks to everyone for reading!


	5. Training Wreck

**Title:** Training Wreck

**Summary:** A Tale as old as time, and true as it can be. Both a little scared, neither one prepared… You know where this is going. Beauty and the Beast with a twist. Toothless/Hiccup.

**Warning**: Eventual slash, mature themes, I guess.

**Disclaimer:** What part of FAN FICTION is hard to understand? I don't own Beauty and the Beast, and I don't own How to Train Your Dragon. They belong to whoever they do. I'm not here to make money; I'm just here to entertain.

For the rest of the day, Hiccup was in father-acceptance induced heaven. He drifted in and out of the Ingermans' bookshop and Gobber's blacksmith shop, collecting things he might need, asking questions about anything hunting–related he could think of, and generally annoying the heck out of both Gobber and Fishlegs.

"For the last time, Hiccup," Fishlegs would say exasperatedly, "_No_, there aren't any books about hunting dragons _besides_ the ones you already have."

"Are you sure?" Hiccup would ask, only half paying attention.

"_Yes_, I'm sure. Go bother Gobber for a while." Fishlegs would wave him away. And he would go to Gobber, who would say pretty much the same thing, only about weapons that could slay dragons.

They spent most of the rest of the day like that, But Gobber and Fishlegs didn't mind, really. They were mostly happy to see Hiccup so excited. They weren't the only ones, however.

Spitelout, Snotlout's father, was an ambitious man, and unscrupulous, but not necessarily in that order. He was Stoick the Vast's younger brother, though you wouldn't know it from looking at him. Whereas Stoick had red hair and a full beard, Spitelout had black hair and a (mostly) shaven face. Where Stoick was, well, _vast_, Spitelout was lean and muscled, though they were pretty much the same height. But Most Importantly, while Stoick's eyes were kind and smiling, Spitelout's were unfathomable and just a little cruel.

Spitelout had always been jealous of Stoick for becoming chief of the tribe, though over the years, he'd learned to hide it well. But he wasn't hiding it very well right now. The cogs and gears in his head turned as he saw Hiccup making his way back and forth across town. He knew that Hiccup was going to the inland lake west of Raven's Peak the day after tomorrow (Gobber didn't know how to keep his mouth shut). If he had an accident on the way there…

Spitelout thought about it, but no. If Stoick lost his heir, a substitute wouldn't necessarily have to be in the family. It would have to be the most promising child of the same generation. And, regretfully, that wasn't his son. It was that girl, Astral or something. Spitelout shuddered at the thought of a woman leading the Hairy Hooligans. Only the Bog Burglar barbarians did that.

'_But if I get my son married to that Hiccup, then he'd be Stoick's son-in-law, technically making him an heir too!'_

And just like that, Spitelout decided he'd marry his son to that Hiccup, and then maybe afterwards he'd kill him.

Spitelout left the pub and headed towards the part of the forest he knew his son and his friends used as a training area. There was a formal one in Burk, but it was mainly used by young men who had time on their hands and veterans who wanted to stay in shape, not fifteen year olds who didn't know their swords from their shields.

When he entered the clearing, the Thorston twins were wrestling on the ground, pretty evenly matched. His own son was barely holding his own with that girl Astral in a swordfight.

'_Well, not really my son,'_ Spitelout tried to make himself feel better as Snotlout received a particularly hard hit on the head with a wood-covered sword. Snotlout had been left on his doorstep years ago when he was just a baby. It was a sign from the gods. He was being given a perfectly healthy baby boy while his brother got, well, Hiccup. He thought that made it perfectly clear who the chief should have been, but no. He never got anything he wanted. He had to take everything for himself. And he would too, eventually.

"Thanks for waiting dad." Snotlout jogged up to his father. He had seen him there a few minutes ago, and had tried to finish the fight as quickly as he could, but Astrid hadn't wanted to let him go until she did the Berserker's Bash right. Which, you can imagine, took some time.

Spitelout looked down at his son. Right. "Come with me." He started walking.

Snotlout ran back to get his things, said goodbye to his friends, and caught up to his dad.

"What's up?" Snotlout asked, trying to sound casual. His father wasn't the warmest person in the world, and didn't exactly seek him out to ask how his day was.

"Son," Spitelout began. "How do you feel about that Hiccup?"

Spitelout thought his son did a great job concealing his thoughts. He was so proud!

"He's okay, I guess. He should totally work out more if he wants to match these babies." Snotlout flexed his arm, showing off his muscles.

Spitelout resisted the urge to roll his eyes. _'Patience'_ He told himself. _'He's still just a child.'_

"You see, I overheard back in town that he's going out to Raven's Peak to go hunt dragons." Spitelout explained. Snotlout's expression, which he really couldn't hide this time, told the man where to go from there.

"He's, well, he's not strong, son, at least not like you." He made a 'worried' face. "I'm just concerned that, well, he might get hurt trying to impress his father."

"Stoick," he continued, "He's not a bad father, son, I don't want you thinking that. I just think he's trying to make Hiccup into something he's not, and I think that's dangerous." Spitelout was delighted with his son's reaction. Perfect.

"Dad!" He was clearly upset about it. "We've got to do something, he could get seriously mauled, even by just a Terror! If he—"

"Calm down," Spitelout told his son, "See, it's a horrible state of affairs, right? So I got to thinking, and here's my idea. Marry Hiccup."

Snotlout tripped. "But he— and I— We don't—We're—" He sputtered. "That doesn't solve anything!" He finally got out.

"Hear me out," cajoled Spitelout. "To my thinking, here's what would happen. If you marry that Hiccup, you have an excuse to protect him as much as you want. And since you're both technically heirs, between the two of you, no one would be able to take away the chieftainship."

"I don't know, dad." Snotlout replied, unsure. "I don't think that's a great plan. It could work, maybe, if he—"

"It's decided then!" Spitelout pretended not hear. "I'll arrange the wedding feast, you go propose."

Spitelout broke away and headed to Burk's town square. Snotlout was surprised to find that they had walked all the way to the chief's house. Maybe he could _talk_ Hiccup into not going hunting for dragons. He approached the dwelling gingerly, almost sneakily, but he might as well not have bothered. The house was empty. All he could find were Hiccup's woefully over packed bags. He removed some of the least necessary things (like books), and put in some of the more necessary things (like firestones and his extra dagger).

'_Odin's beard, the dragons are going to have a field day with him._' He thought. His father's plan, it was stupid, but letting Hiccup go would be pure _madness_. He left, thinking things over very carefully indeed.

Unbeknownst to Spitelout, if he'd thought to check the clearing behind the house, he'd have found Hiccup training with Gobber and Fishlegs. Both had finally gotten fed up with the boy, and decided that Hiccup was going to annoy them anyway, he might as well have some bruises to show for it. Well, that was Gobber, anyway. Fishlegs just wanted to go back to the store and read. Or look for the others and hang out. Anything would have been better than watching Hiccup struggle with the sword.

"Put your back into it!" bellowed Gobber from his perch on a large rock. Hiccup swung the sword, but even Fishlegs could repel that attack, and he did, with ease.

"This isn't working! Let's try something else." Fishlegs insisted.

"No! I can do this!" Hiccup was adamant. But, remember, this was the first time he'd ever held a sword to use it, not just to sharpen it, or to put designs on it, or to make one from scratch.

"Hiccup, it's hopeless. Let's try something else." Said Gobber a few minutes later, after Fishlegs knocked the sword out of Hiccup's hands for the umpteenth time. Fishlegs sighed with relief while Hiccup sighed with disappointment.

Gobber held up a bow and a quiver of arrows. "Let's try these." He threw them to Hiccup, who caught the bow, but not the quiver. Arrows went everywhere. As Hiccup and Fishlegs bent to collect them, Gobber called out ("Fishlegs!") and threw him a shield that had a bull's-eye painted clumsily on its surface. Fishlegs paled.

"You can't be serious!" He sounded panicked, starting to edge away from Hiccup until the entire clearing separated them

"Oh, but I am. Go for it, Hiccup!" Gobber looked positively evil.

"Come on, Fishlegs!" Hiccup pleaded, already nocking an arrow into his bow. At least he was taking the proper stance, arms at eye level and legs braced a shoulder's width apart.

"I've done _this _before—" and Hiccup released the arrow. The good news was that the arrow flew straight enough, certainly straighter than Gobber or Fishlegs thought it would. The bad news was that it fell short, burying itself at Fishlegs' feet.

"That's not fair! There must be something wrong with this bow's draw-weight! Gobber, what kind of wood is this? It looks kind of like yew, but—"

"Hiccup!" Gobber interrupted. "That is not the problem! If the target is far away, you…?" Gobber gestured to Fishlegs, who was still trying to hide behind a shield that was nowhere near large enough.

"Oh." Understanding dawned on Hiccup. _Moving_ target practice. "Right. Get ready Fishlegs!" He nocked another arrow.

"Odin help me, aim, Hiccup, _aim!_"

"Maybe I would if you'd stop _moving_—!"

"BWAHAHAHA—" Gobber chocked on his amusement.

And they spent the rest of the morning like that. For almost an hour, Hiccup ran after (and shot arrows at) his friend, who ran away just as fast, while Gobber laughed his head off.

"Hey, no fair!" Ruffnut's voice suddenly rang through the clearing. "I didn't know Gobber was giving training sessions!"

"Who cares?" Tuffnut's voice followed predictably. "It's not like _I_ need training, anyway. I'm _already_ the best this place's got— "

Tuffnut flicked his hair. Astrid disagreed with him by catching hold of his fingers and bending them back. Tuffnut fell over; Ruffnnut laughed.

"No you're not."

"Ow, I am hurt, I am hurt _very_ _bad!_"

"So," Astrid looked at Hiccup "Can we join you, or is this a private training session?"

(After Snotlout had left, the three of them couldn't decide how to train, so they had gone looking for Fishlegs to make the teams at least even.)

Hiccup and Fishlegs looked at each other. Training with Astrid, not to mention the twins, did not Sound Like Fun. At least, not if you didn't enjoy pain.

Of course, Gobber had to say "Sure! In fact, we'd welcome you! Hiccup's about to go off slaying dragons, so we need all the help we can get!"

The three newcomers were silent for a moment. While it wasn't as important as fighting the other tribes, the death rate for dragon slayers was much higher.

"Finally, man, some _balls_. I was beginning to doubt you _had_—" Tuffnut didn't get to finish his sentence. Ruffnut elbowed him in the stomach while Astrid stomped on his foot.

"Let's go!" Astrid said, overly enthusiastic. "What do we do first?"

"Well," Gobber rubbed his chin with his remaining hand. "I think we can pretty much agree his sword fighting's hopeless."

"Yeah." ("Hey!")

"And his archery's as good as it's going to get for now…"

"How about we work on evading capture?" Ruffnut suggested, evil glint in her eye.

"That way, even if he can't kill the dragon, it can't kill him." Astrid added.

"Good idea, Ruffnut!" Gobber agreed. "Hiccup, pay attention. They," Gobber pointed to the Astrid, Tuffnut, and Ruffnut. "Will be trying to kill you."

("I'm not loving it so far." Hiccup said under his breath)

"And you will try to not get killed while trying to take their weapons, which you'll give to Fishlegs here."

Everyone looked at Fishlegs. He gave a small wave.

"You three will not be allowed to take your weapons from Fishlegs, but, as always, Hiccup is fair game. If he manages to take one weapon from all of you and give them to Fishlegs, he wins."

'_Yeah, right, like that would ever happen.'_ Four minds thought privately. (That was everyone except Hiccup himself and Fishlegs, who was always trying to have more confidence in his friend.)

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go!" Gobber barked.

Hiccup stood nervously as the three of them began to surround him.

"Well, don't just stand there Hiccup! Do _something_!" Fishlegs hollered, trying to be encouraging.

"I'm _thinking_!" Hiccup hollered right back. The three of them were getting closer…

Suddenly, as if by a secret signal, they all ran at him! Hiccup didn't know which way to turn, unable to decide who he was most afraid of, and so ended up buried under three struggling bodies.

"I've got him!"

"That's me, you idiot!"

"With the two of you _get off!_"

Hiccup wiggled out from under the pile, holding Ruffnut's dagger as he ran full speed towards Fishlegs.

"Go Hiccup!" Cheered Fishlegs. Unfortunately, that made Hiccup's pursuers realize that _'Hey, he's not here anymore!'._

They untangled themselves, but it was too late. Four shocked faces Hiccup threw the dagger to Fishlegs, who caught it triumphantly.

"Whoo! Go Hiccup!" He cheered again.

Gobber had an astonished smile on his face. "Well done, Hiccup! There may be hope for you yet!"

But Hiccup wasn't feeling very hopeful. The three of them surrounded him again, but this time with a different strategy. Ruffnut jumped at him first, being the smallest risk since Hiccup had already taken a weapon from her. She caught him in a bear hug, and laughed as Hiccup struggled to get loose.

"You should be thankful, Hiccup! Guys would _kill_ to be in your—"

Hiccup reached up and grabbed one horn of her helmet, pulling it over her eyes. She immediately let go to fix it, and Hiccup ran. He was free!

But not for long, it seemed. Even as Astrid ran to help Ruffnut, Tuffnut ran at Hiccup, sword out held above his head. Hiccup's eyes widened.

"Tuffnut, are you _insane_?"

Hiccup turned around, but Ruffnut was free. She and Astrid ran at him. _'What to do, what to do…!'_ Hiccup thought, panicking. He made a decision.

'_If Tuffnut isn't going to play fair, then…'_

Hiccup turned back around and ran right into Tuffnut. This disoriented the larger boy only for a second, but that was all Hiccup needed. Hiccup kneed him in the groin. _Hard._

Tuffnut tumbled to the ground. Hiccup himself winced in sympathy, and he could faintly hear Gobber's laughter from somewhere far, far away, but he was too full of adrenaline to pay attention.

"Oh, Thor's—" Tuffnut made a gargling sound at the back of his throat. "Not fair! Not Fair! _Not Fair!_"

Hiccup picked up the sword from where Tuffnut had dropped it and ran to Fishlegs.

"That's two!" Fishlegs was suitably awed. "I've got to say Hiccup, I'm impressed! I— Look out!"

Astrid swung her axe at Hiccup, trying to scare him. Fishlegs ran out of the way while Hiccup backed up, dodging (even if Astrid wasn't _really _going to hit him. Right?).

Astrid was so busy swinging and making sure Hiccup could dodge what she threw at him that she didn't notice the tree behind him until she hit it.

_Thunk!_

Her axe buried itself into the trunk of the tree. She struggled to pull it out and, after a moment, Hiccup joined her. Together they pulled it out. Astrid turned now to Hiccup to pull it out if his hands, but something tugged at her skirt, distracting her.

Hiccup pulled the axe out of her hands. She saw a dagger pinning her to the tree. _'Sneaky.'_ She nodded approvingly as she pulled it out.

"I've got it! _I've got it!_" Hiccup yelled as he ran.

"Hiccup, give me back my axe!" Astrid threw the dagger aside and gave chase.

"Make me, you lunatic!" was his reply.

It was the last round, Tuffnut was still down, and Hiccup had managed to get Astrid's axe. Ruffnut stopped laughing at her brother and joined Astrid. the two girls gave it everything they got.

But if there was one thing to be said about Hiccup, he was great at running away. This way and that, he dodged. Not even Astrid could keep him in a hold. He wriggled out of both their hands like a slippery eel.

"What are you, part eel!" Astrid cried angrily, getting frustrated that _Hiccup_ of all people could escape her so consistently. "You're cheating!"

"Am not!" Hiccup was getting close to Fishlegs, the two girls hot on his heels.

Finally, Ruffnut managed to catch him by the scruff of his vest just as Hiccup threw Astrid's axe to Fishlegs. It didn't make it.

"Aha!" Ruffnut yelled. But, in a manner that reminded them all of a snake-type dragon unhinging its jaws, Hiccup drew back his arms and _slid_ out of his vest, not even losing his momentum. He picked up the sword and threw it again, just as the two girls tackled him from behind.

It landed right between Fishlegs' feet.

"Odin's beard," Fishlegs picked up Astrid's axe almost reverently. "Hiccup wins." He whispered.

"Hiccup wins!" Gobber yelled, overjoyed as well. _'Wait until I tell Stoick..!'_

Hiccup, who was at this point too tired to wriggle out from under Astrid and Ruffnut, didn't hear. He was pleasantly surprised that the girls helped him up after getting off him, but was astonished when they put him up on their shoulders. His face colored and he tried to get down, but the girls were having none of it.

"You did it, Hiccup!" Astrid cried. Although she technically hated to lose, this was a victory for all them, somehow.

"Way to go!" Ruffnut cheered, raising her free arm to shake her fist in the air. "That was _great!_" She said. "I can't believe we haven't done that before!"

Hiccup looked behind him and saw Gobber, Fishlegs, and Tuffnut marching behind them. Even from his perch, Hiccup could see that Tuffnut was walking funny.

All the way down to Burk's only pub, they made their way, like a demented parade. When they got there, they proceeded to drink until they couldn't anymore, talking about battle strategies, dragons, and what have you. Hiccup brought Tuffnut a drink as an apology, to which Tuffnut replied, "Are you kidding? You're kick didn't hurt, I just wanted to give you a chance was all.", but he accepted it anyway, because who turned down a drink?

It was the first time Hiccup had hung out with the three of them without Snotlout there to act as a buffer. He had a blast. When it was getting late and everyone was heading home, Hiccup was still smiling. Even as he fell into bed, boots and aches and pains and all, (And he'd have to remember to go out back to get his stuff tomorrow), he was still smiling.

'_Definitely the best day ever.'_ He yawned._ 'Can't wait for tomorrow.'_

**A/N:** The overwhelming majority spoke, and it was awesome. I thought I get, well, 5 replies, 10 at most, but I got more along the lines of 30! I really appreciate that people took time out of their precious day to reply and with such promptness!

The verdict is that the story remains intact, as I hoped it would, under one title only! Yay! Adequate warnings shall be provided and, I hope, be heeded.

Rest assured, I won't be making a habit of posting notes like that as chapters. As many of you have pointed out, I _am_ the author, so I guess I should stop trying to please everybody. That doesn't mean I won't listen to and appreciate suggestions (and criticisms, and ideas, and whatever-you-see-fit-to-send), but if I feel a story would be best served by a particular event, then I guess I think I should have first prerogative.

Anyway, I posted this late, and I'm sorry to everyone. I had trouble with this chapter. Mostly because of the length, which is actually enough for three, maybe four, of my usual chapters. To head off some questions, Hiccup's not particularly bent on hunting dragons, actually. Think of it as football. Stoick enjoys football, so to gain approval, Hiccup starts memorizing how many passes got fumbled by his dad's favorite team last season, or something else totally obscure about the sport.

To **skyinthenightslove**: wow, so many questions! And the truth is, I don't know the answers to some of them either! But I will tell you this: being a good blacksmith is an important part of Hiccup's personality, so we may come back to that later.

Please don't hesitate to ask questions, which I actually enjoy answering. As always, much love to the people who read, and hugs to those who give feedback!


	6. Here Comes the what?

**Title:** Here comes the…what?

**Summary:** A Tale as old as time, and true as it can be. Both a little scared, neither one prepared… You know where this is going. Beauty and the Beast with a twist. Toothless/Hiccup.

**Warning**: Eventual slash, mature themes, I guess.

**Disclaimer:** What part of FAN FICTION is hard to understand? I don't own Beauty and the Beast, and I don't own How to Train Your Dragon. They belong to whoever they do. I'm not here to make money; I'm just here to entertain.

"What do you mean '_You haven't asked yet.'?_" Spitelout hissed at his son.

"Well, uh, see…" Snotlout tried to remember a time when he'd felt this nervous, but couldn't. He also couldn't remember seeing his dad this angry, but that was making him even more nervous, so he dropped that thought immediately.

"He wasn't home yesterday, so I thought I'd ask tomorrow." The boy looked around himself in near panic. "I didn't know the wedding, if there was going to be one, would be _today_!"

Spitelout had outdone himself, actually. Considering it was so close to winter, Snotlout didn't know _where_ he'd gotten the flowers. All of his friends were there ('all of them' being Astrid, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and Fishlegs), looking just as bewildered as he did. His father had rounded them all up before even calling _him_. There were a smattering of adults, mostly his friends' parents, and the usual crowd at any Burk wedding: the food people, the music people, and the village elder to join the lucky couple.

"You go in there and you propose. _Now._"

"But, Dad, I can't—" But Snotlout's father wasn't listening.

"When he accepts, you get him out here. I'll handle it from there. Now _go._" Spitelout pushed his son towards the Haddock house. Snotlout stumbled a bit, looking back at his father. Spitelout's face could have been made of stone. Snotlout looked at his friends. Their faces ranged from _'What are you doing?'_ to _'Dude, I can't believe you're doing this!'_. He sighed and walked right up to the door. He knocked.

Inside the house, Hiccup lay sleeping, unaware anything that was happening outside his house. He jerked awake when he heard knocking downstairs.

"Odin's armpits," he groaned. He hurt in places he didn't know he _had_. He could feel the muscles on his legs aching, his neck felt weird from sleeping facedown while still breathing, his head hurt from drinking too much mead (he hadn't even _touched_ the beer for fear of getting drunk), and _someone was still knocking on his door_.

He hissed as he pushed himself up, his clothes sticking to his skin uncomfortably.

"Ugh," He crawled backwards off his bed. "Bath first, then door."

So he took a second to douse himself with a bucketful of cold water ("Oh, Thor's hairy smelly—!") and pull on a night shirt (he fully expected to go back to sleep) and his boots before he went to the door.

"Good Morning, Snotlout." Hiccup yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "What's up?"

"Well," Snotlout shifted left and right, Not Looking at Hiccup. "There's this thing…and the thing about this…thing…is that this thing…well…"

"Spit it out, man." Hiccup was Not Amused. He wanted to go back to _bed_. He caught a glimpse of something behind his friend. He leaned a bit to the right to see better, and Snotlout leaned right with him. Hiccup raised an eyebrow at Snotlout, who gave him a nervous grin. Hiccup leaned to the left, and Snotlout followed. Back and forth they went.

(The twins watched from afar. Ruffnut whispered to her brother "What are they _doing?_" "I don't know, some kind of wedding dance?" Tuffnut replied.)

"What's going _on?_" Hiccup was getting tired of the game. His body still hurt, he was still sleepy, and he still didn't know what on earth Snotlout came to say.

Hiccup pushed past Snotlout and caught sight of the wedding. Quite forgetting that he was wearing just his nightclothes, he walked towards the spectacle.

"There's a wedding today! Why didn't you tell me?" Hiccup liked weddings. There was food, music, and everyone was too busy to pay much attention to him. He turned back to Snotlout to call out. "Hey, who's getting—"

Spitelout came out of nowhere and put an arm around Hiccup's shoulders, steering him towards the ceremony.

"Uncle Spitelout!" Hiccup said, just a bit surprised. Snotlout's father wasn't exactly the touchy-feely type.

"Please, call me Dad!" He said. Before Hiccup could digest that (_'…What?'_) he continued. "What a wonderful surprise, right?"

"Yes sir, people getting married is always wonderful, I guess." Hiccup was getting a little uncomfortable.

"Isn't it though? My son Snotlout's full of wonderful surprises!"

"_Snotlout _is getting married?" Hiccup was shocked. _'And he didn't even tell me! Some friend! I'll—'_

"Yes! And there's not a girl in town who wouldn't _love_ to be in your shoes right now—"

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), Snotlout caught up with them just that second, breaking them apart.

"Hiccup!" he said, trying to catch his breath. "I—"

"You jerk!" Hiccup punched him playfully on the shoulder. "You're getting married and you didn't even tell me?"

"Well, you see—"

"He still doesn't know?"

"Know _what_?"

"I'm sorry Dad, I couldn't—"

"I don't _believe_ this…"

"What's going _on?_"

Snotlout was nervous and sweaty, his father looked like his head would explode, and Hiccup was starting to have this sick suspicion at the bottom of his stomach.

Hiccup looked at his friend. "_What_ is going _on_, Snotlout?"

But it was Spitelout who answered him.

"This is the day your dreams come true, Hiccup!" He said.

"Dad!" Even Spitelout could tell he was embarrassing his son.

"Excuse me, sir, but what do you know about my dreams?" Hiccup was just a little defensive, and it was more of a statement than a question.

"Plenty!" Spitelout said. "Here, imagine this. A rustic hunting lodge, my son's latest kill roasting on the fire, and you, Hiccup, massaging his feet, while your, umm.." He paused, "Your little ones play on the floor with the dogs."

Hiccup's mouth had dropped open at this point; Snotlout's long before Hiccup's had. But Spitelout was just getting started. He could see it now…

"You'll have six or seven, of course."

"_Dogs?_" Hiccup wondered why he was dignifying this delusion by asking questions.

"Kids!" Spitelout answered. "Strapping young boys! Like me! I want _a lot_ of grandkids I can—"

But Snotlout had had enough.

"I'll handle it from here, _dad_." He said, pushing his father back towards the others. On any other day he wouldn't have dared, and Spitelout wouldn't have allowed it, but he thought he'd said enough. He left them, cheerily waving goodbye, with a "Think about it!" to boot.

There was an awkward silence. Then,

"All this time, I thought you were _joking—_"

"Hiccup—"

"And _this—_"

"Let me—"

"I cannot _believe_ this—"

"If you'd just _listen_ to me for a second—"

"_What?_" Hiccup stopped pacing and _glared_ at him. Snotlout swallowed. "What could you _possibly_ say to make this more embarrassing than it already is? Did you actually have anything to _do_ with _this_?"

Snotlout was silent.

"Well?" Hiccup was getting impatient. All he'd wanted today was to sleep so he'd be ready to go to his father tomorrow, but instead…

"_Well?_"

"Well," Snotlout looked at his feet. "I knew about it a _little_."

Snotlout looked up and saw this expression on Hiccup's face that said his friend was _going to kill him_. He did the only thing he could think of.

"So…" he kneeled down and took hold of Hiccup's hand. "Will you marry me?"

And really, no one could blame Hiccup for what he did next. Hiccup pulled his hand away and punched Snotlout in face as hard as he could. They could here gasps coming from their friends who were still watching from their places near the food table. From the ground, Snotlout disbelievingly held a hand to his jaw (Which Hiccup noted with glee was swelling a just little bit but not as much as he would have liked). Hiccup glared at him some more. Then he ran.

Snotlout got up and tried to catch him, but Hiccup's evasion skills proved once again excellent, as he made it back to his house in time to shut the door. Snotlout stopped there for a bit, expecting it to be locked. But when he pushed, the door opened.

Hiccup waited for him on the other side.

"Do you even understand how much this _demeans_ me?" Hiccup was livid.

"Demean?" Snotlout was a little offended. "I'm a great catch!"

Hiccup clawed at his own face. "This _isn't about that!_ You _dunderhead—!_"

And Snotlout could tell his friend was being serious because Hiccup started doing this thing with his hands that Snotlout knew either meant "How could you?" or "Enormous Breasts."

"How could you _do_ this to me? I thought you _respected_ me, at least _liked_ me enough not to go humiliate me like that in front of _everyone_!"

"Humiliate you? What about me? If anything, I'm more embarrassed by what just happened than you are!"

"Well, it's not like _I_ started it!"

"You don't understand! My father—"

"Oh, yeah, right, like _you're the_ only one with father issues."

Hiccup turned around because, suddenly, he couldn't even _look_ at Snotlout right now.

"Just go, okay? And tell _them_ to leave. I'll talk to when I get back from hunting dragons."

Then he started walking away. And Snotlout couldn't just _leave_ it like that, could he? He grabbed Hiccup's arm.

"That's just it." Snotlout said. "I don't want you out there hunting dragons. I want you to stay here where I can keep an eye on you."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Snotlout heard himself and winced. That came out wrong…

And apparently, Hiccup thought so too.

"I don't know _what_," the smaller boy hissed. "_What_ you think you're playing at, you— You—!"

"Look, I know it's not…ideal, but why not?" Snotlout coaxed.

Hiccup pulled his arm away (for the second time that day) and turned to walk away. But as he did, Hiccup tripped over his own feet, which never happened nowadays unless he was particularly upset or nervous (or felt any extreme emotion, actually). The larger boy held out a hand to help him up. Hiccup slapped it away. Snotlout held it out again, face determined. Hiccup slapped it away again, face more determined.

"Stop acting like a kid!"

"Well, stop acting like an idiot!"

And it only got worse from there. Eventually, it degenerated into a slapfight, which wasn't exactly what either boy wanted.

"Enough!" Hiccup finally said, when it was clear it was going nowhere. He stood up with as much dignity as he could muster (quite a feat, considering he was _still_ in his nightclothes).

"Get out of my house!" Hiccup yelled, pointing to the door.

"_Fine._" Spat out Snotlout. He left, slamming the door behind him.

"Don't think this is over, you wimp!" he shouted over his shoulder as he marched away from the house _and_ away from the ridiculous wedding his father had planned.

"Hey, Snotlout!" Hiccup called out.

Snotlout turned just in time to have Hiccup's boot hit him in the face. It was the best shot Hiccup had thrown in his life so far.

"It's over because _I_ say it's over, you loser!" Hiccup slammed the door shut, and Snotlout _swore_ he could hear the locks clicking into place from where he stood.

When he turned back around, Astrid was there.

"Well _that_ didn't go quite as planned, did it?" She said.

"I don't want to talk about it." Snotlout mumbled. He picked up the boot so he could return it later.

**A/N:** I can't even begin to say how much trouble it was to keep Hiccup in character. Somehow, as I was writing this, he was always slipping into this angsty over-emotional wreck who cried at the drop of the hat. He's not.

I mean, I'm pretty sure he can angst and be emotional and cry with the best of them (and have a suspicion that he'll be doing all three before this fic is done), but I didn't want that for this scene. I wanted it to be quick and funny for the most part, like the movie. It's based on Beauty and the Beast, remember? Although I have trouble remembering that myself sometimes.

So yeah, I can't believe it's taking this long to get to Toothless, but not to worry! He'll be here soon. I mean, how much longer can I draw this out?


	7. Going Down

**Title:** Going Down

**Summary:** A Tale as old as time, and true as it can be. Both a little scared, neither one prepared… You know where this is going. Beauty and the Beast with a twist. Toothless/Hiccup.

**Warning**: Eventual slash, mature themes, I guess.

**Disclaimer:** What part of FAN FICTION is hard to understand? I don't own Beauty and the Beast, and I don't own How to Train Your Dragon. They belong to whoever they do. I'm not here to make money; I'm just here to entertain.

Stoick sat as close to his campfire as he could without getting burned. It was a strange sensation, to be so warm on his front and so cold at his back, but it was a sensation he was used to. Beside him were a few fish and a small deer. He had been strangely reluctant to go dragon hunting without Hiccup now that he'd agreed to take his son with him. Instead, the chief had decided to go ahead and catch their food already, so they wouldn't have to worry about it later when they were hot on the trail of a dragon.

'_I hope he's okay…'_ he thought absently. The hairs on his neck had been tingling for days now, and it had nothing to do with the temperature.

Snow fell in flurries around him, and Stoick wondered for a moment whether Hiccup was lost. He dismissed the thought immediately. Hiccup had this thing that always told him which way north was, so he was fine. What he_ should_ be worried about was Hiccup hunting dragons on his own.

_That_ thought bothered Stoick. Hiccup could have gone after a Terrible Terror on his own, thinking it was a Common Garden dragon, when there was a large difference. They looked mostly the same, but Terrors traveled in packs, and were a lot more aggressive. If they got a hold of his son without him there…

Stoick made up his mind and started putting out his fire. If he hurried back, maybe he could get there before Hiccup left, and they could leave together. Training his son involved having a son _to_ train, and while he didn't doubt that Hiccup would be killing Nadders left and right soon enough, right now he was _completely untrained_, and he was just now realizing why Gobber was so insistent that he prepare his son for the world. It was a dangerous place…

But just as Stoick put out the fire (he kept a torch for walking back to Burk at night, hours from dawn), a large dark shape swooped down from the sky.

_**PAGEBREAK**_

"Dude, I've never seen anyone mess up that badly." Tuffnut laughed.

It was the next day. Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs, and Astrid were walking to the Haddock house. If they couldn't convince Hiccup to drop the dragon-hunting plan altogether, surely he'd let them come with him to make sure he didn't die, right?

"How about I mess _you_ up!" Snotlout launched himself at Tuffnut. Astrid caught him by the collar and used his own momentum to fling him in the other direction.

"Oops." She said.

"Seriously, man, what were you thinking?" asked Ruffnut.

"If you were thinking at all." added Fishlegs. Out of them all, he was the most disapproving of what Snotlout had done. Well, the twins found it hilarious more than anything, and Astrid was being Astrid, which meant no one could read her.

"Look," Snotlout scratched his head. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. I figured once we were married, I could stop him from trying to impress the chief so bad. I mean, come one, _dragon hunting_? He'd have died for _real_."

"Well, Gobber thought he was ready." Fishlegs pointed out.

"Gobber," Tuffnut rolled his eyes "Is not exactly the best judge of things like that. I mean, he's lost a leg _and_ a hand, right? I'm surprised he still has both his eyes."

Astrid knocked him upside the head. "Don't talk about him like that. He's got more skill in his pinky than you could have, ever."

"Yeah," Ruffnut was always ready to insult her brother. "You're too chicken to do anything like that. You _wish_ you could lose a leg fighting a dragon!"

"How about I make you lose one right now!"

And this time Astrid didn't bother keeping them apart. Ruffnut was trying to fix her hair and Tuffnut was trying to fix his helmet when they finally got close to Hiccup's house. Smoke was coming out of the chimney, and they could see lights coming from the inside.

They walked right up to the door, upon which Snotlout knocked.

"Hiccup?" He called. "I've got your boot."

"Way to show him who's boss." Tuffnut snickered beside him. Snotlout shooed him away, pressing an ear against the door, waiting for telltale footsteps…

…and nearly fell in when the door was opened. By Old Wrinkly, Hiccup's grandfather.

"You," he shook a bony finger at Snotlout, "Have been very, very rude to my grandson." And he slowly hobbled back to the chair by the fireplace.

The teens looked at each other before following the old man inside.

_**PAGEBREAK**_

'_The Nerve…!'_ Hiccup thought darkly to himself. After spending most of yesterday with the door locked, moping and being aggravated at everything, he'd decided to go to his grandfather for a chat, and had come home feeling better. Still annoyed like you wouldn't _believe_, but better. Then he'd decided to leave before the crack of dawn, eager to go meet with his father and bring down a dragon.

All in all, it had been an okay morning so far. He'd cooked himself breakfast, and had eaten it without incident. He had set a pretty good pace, considering he had brought his bola-throwing-thingy with him. Everything was going swell,

Except now he was lost. Hiccup had opened his bags to find all of his navigation supplies gone, and he had a pretty good idea whose fault it was.

'_Snotlout.'_ He thought murderously. His book of maps (Which had a special compartment for his compass needle and everything) was gone, and in its place were some fire stones and Snotlout's dagger.

He couldn't even just look up and navigate by the stars, because the trees were tall enough to obscure the important bits of the sky. The same trees were impossible to climb without his climbing gear. And his climbing gear (surprise!) was gone too.

'_I swear I'm going to _kill_ him when I get back.'_ Hiccup allowed himself a few minutes to imagine choking his cousin to death before getting back to the problem at hand. He was still lost.

He stood there for a few more minutes, then leaned on a tree, then sat down, then stood up again because that made his butt wet, before he thought of the solution. The Sun. It always rose in the east. All he had to do was wait until dawn, and he'd have a pretty good idea which direction to go to get to the inland lake west of Raven's Peak.

Hiccup sat there, not bothering to build a fire. He'd have to start moving again pretty soon. But not building a fire left him with nothing to do, so he fiddled with his bola-shooting-thingy.

'_I really need to think of a better name for this thing,'_ He thought to himself.

He peaked through the sight with the crosshairs, _'Maybe I'll shoot a dragon all by myself,'_ He joked. While he had complete and total faith in his machine (the same of which could not be said of anyone else in the Hairy Hooligan Tribe), the chances of a dragon flying by right then were about—

Suddenly, a black shape shot across the circular view provided by his contraption. Hiccup rubbed at his eyes before looking again. There it was, gliding across the pre-dawn sky, cool as could be. It looked like no other dragon Hiccup had seen before. He was excited by the prospect of discovering a new species of dragon before noticing a more important fact.

Was that thing…_circling_ him?

Hiccup started to sweat. Something that big could carry him away, no question. If it didn't rip him into teeny-weeny itty-bitty pieces first.

'_I've only got one shot at this.'_ He told himself.

He too careful aim, and fired!

Down

Down

Down! The dragon went. Hiccup let out a disbelieving "I did it! Oh yeah! Whoo!" before hightailing after it, forgetting his bags and bola-shooting-thingy and everything else except for one thing.

_I just brought down my first dragon! All. By. My. Self! I rock!_

**A/N: **

To **skyinthenightslove:** Wow, so many questions again! And, again, I can't really answer any of them without revealing too much, but I will tell you this: You've hit one nail _right on the head_ and kind of glanced a blow at a few others. If your questions are what you want to happen, I think you should keep reading!

To **SkyHighFan:** Wow, I've never had any experience like that. I was just sort of making it up as I went along…

To **Deeper than Darkness: **Snotlout doesn't really. I mean, not right that second. Imagine if one of your best friends was about to go do something incredibly stupid and kill himself if he didn't get married soon. So you did. Would you have done it anyway? Maybe. Who knows? But the point is that he needed you, and you were there. That thing from the day before _was_ a joke (A strangely prophetic one, but a joke nonetheless. I'm looking at you, **Crystal F. Flowright**)

To **Firebreather339: **Why not?

To **Lauren:** Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm trying to keep it light, but when the drama starts, it won't just be drama, it'll be dramatic!drama.

I'm back! I just went on a short vacation with my sister and mother, which was only supposed to last one night, but yeah. The good news is, staying in a hotel room without internet and without my colored pencils (I left them at home.) gave me a lot of time to think. I have some ideas that I'm kind of excited about. The bad news is that having more ideas doesn't make me write any faster, so expect the usual daily or every-other-day updates.

Before anyone asks about the compass (1), Hiccup made a _cannon_ in the movie, so it totally fits and (2), compasses were made around 200 BC in China and were pretty common at 1000 AD, so I assume he read how to make one in a Roman book or something. Maybe he asked a French explorer for one, I don't know.

As always, feed me feedback! And thanks for reading!


	8. Beast?

**Title: **Between the two, who is the beast?**  
**

**Summary:** A Tale as old as time, and true as it can be. Both a little scared, neither one prepared… You know where this is going. Beauty and the Beast with a twist. Toothless/Hiccup.

**Warning**: Eventual slash, mature themes, I guess.

**Disclaimer:** What part of FAN FICTION is hard to understand? I don't own Beauty and the Beast, and I don't own How to Train Your Dragon. They belong to whoever they do. I'm not here to make money; I'm just here to entertain.

Astrid was Not Happy. She and the other teens had been sitting in the Haddock living room for what felt like hours. The room itself was nice, very cozy. Astrid wondered at how big the place was; Her own home was really just large room with everything in it. But there was this Silence in the air that none of them could bring themselves to break. The old man (aptly called Old Wrinkly for he was very old and very, very wrinkly.) had not spoken since inviting them in and, honestly, it was getting on her nerves.

"Sir?" Fishlegs spoke, first one to break. "Do you know where Hiccup is?" he asked.

Everyone nodded in agreement, silently echoing the question. The Haddock boy was the reason they'd gone here after all.

But Old Wrinkly didn't answer. Astrid wondered if he'd fallen asleep in front of the fire. Or Odin forefend, if he'd _died_ right there—

She needn't have worried. Just as she was working up a good sweat, he answered.

"He's gone dragon hunting with his father. I'm just watching the house until the come back." Old Wrinkly had his own small cottage with a view of the sea.

Astrid was— Well, she wasn't _surprised_ exactly. A part of her had always known that Hiccup wouldn't _really_ be stupid enough to go hunting dragons without any training or anyone to watch his back. But apparently, she was the only one.

"WHAT?"

_**PAGEBREAK**_

Hiccup ran. He ran and ran and ran until he got tired. And when he stopped to rest, he remembered that he'd left all of his stuff back there, and he had to walk all the way back there (because there was no way he was running all the way back).

But he didn't mind really (even though this was the worst type of landscape to be lost in. Snow everywhere, and the ground went up and down, like the wrinkles on his grandpa's face), not when he'd gotten a dragon all by himself! Hiccup was ecstatic. A dragon! A possibly new species, and all by himself. He was beside himself with glee.

So back he went, getting his packs, but leaving behind his bola-throwing-thingy.

'_Dragoncatcher.'_ He thought. _'I'll call it the Dragoncatcher.'_

He left the Dragoncatcher behind (it wasn't really that far from Burk, he'd be back for it later) and went on his way. By now the sun was up. Not very high, but enough that it gave Hiccup a small amount of warmth as he trudged in the direction where the unidentified dragon had fallen.

As he went on he saw Raven's Peak, and realized he was walking towards the inland lake, or thereabouts.

'_What luck!'_ he thought. _'Maybe I can show dad the _live_ dragon. Imagine! Hiccup the dragonslayer. I like it! Kind of rolls of the tongue.'_

On and on he walked. But there were no signs of the dragon anywhere. The sun was high in the sky now, and he was just about to give up and meet with his dad already (_'He must be hopping mad by now. I bet he thought I'd show up at the crack of dawn…'_). But he saw something. Well, actually, it literally hit him in the face. A tree that looked like something had hit it hard. Something big. Something from above…

'_My dragon!'_

Behind the tree, Hiccup could see some serious trenches in the ground. _'That must have hurt.'_ He thought.

The boy dropped his packs and slid down the incline (or decline, depends on where you stood.) and peeked over a mound of dirt. The rolling landscape gave way to a particularly deep sort of hole. And in that hole, Hiccup saw…

A dark shape!

Down he went, hiding behind the dirt mound, as if it could protect him from something like a dragon.

But nothing happened.

He peeked again, this time taking a better look.

…

It was _definitely_ his dragon. He It was bigger and scarier than he thought it would be. But that wasn't going to stop him!

Hiccup fumbled for his dagger ('_I have my _own_ dagger, Snotlout. Thank you very much.'_ ) and nearly dropped it. But he didn't, and he held it in his hand as he slid down into the hole, hiding behind a rock. He briefly thought of going back up and getting his bow and arrows, but decided against it. This was something he had to do up close.

Taking deep breaths, he inched around the rock. But as the dragon did nothing, he gained courage, losing the pretense of the dagger and just walked right up to it.

"Oh, I did it, I did it. This fixes everything! Yes!" It was like he'd brought down the dragon all over again, but a hundred times better!

"I have brought down this mighty beast—!" but then he made the common Viking mistake of trying to pose with the dragon. He had carelessly put his foot on the dragon, and it had _moved._

He fell back against the rock, wondering if this was what it felt like to have a heart attack. He held the knife in front of him again, this time approaching the dragon much more slowly and carefully…

It looked at him. The dragon looked at Hiccup with large green _evil_ eyes, and the boy steeled his nerves.

"I'm going to kill you, dragon." He said. "I'm going to cut out your heart and take it to my father. I'm a Viking."

That wasn't very convincing.

"I'm a _Viking_." He said much louder. That was better.

He raised the dagger over his head, and looked down at the beast. It looked at him for an eternal moment, before closing its eyes and baring its neck.

'_This…this is wrong.'_

Hiccup couldn't do this. No, wait…

"_I_ did this." He said to himself. He turned to walk away, maybe his father would…

But he couldn't do that either. He turned back and began sawing at the ropes that bound the dragon.

The beast's eyes flew open.

**A/N: **I've uploaded some HtTYD fanart in DeviantArt! My username there is the same as this one, CushiKitten. I've also put a link on my profile.

Yay, cliffhanger! Well, -ish.

In case anyone is curious, if Night Furies are as reclusive as the movie made them out to be, then I doubt the Vikings would know they existed unless one showed itself to them during a raid or some such. So because there's no Green Death, there are no raids. No raids means no Viking knowledge on Night Furies.

To **skyinthenightslove:** This chapter is for you! I hope you get better soon!

To **Prodigus Feldspar:** Yes, I write like a thirteen year old. Please don't rub it in. (Joking!) Seriously, I get that more often than you think. It's because I rarely curse in writing, specifically, when I'm writing about young teens/adults. I curse like a sailor in real life, and I have no problem making characters curse when the story calls for it, but since neither the movie nor the books curse, I try to keep it to a minimum.

To **Veritas4Eternity:** All will be revealed! Soon–ish.

Thank you for reading!

Hugs to these people for reviewing more than once!

**Jigokuhana**

**Deeper than Darkness**

**EcchoKat**

**Assasin of Oblivion**

**Firebreather339**

**Prodigous Feldspar**

And Hugs with kisses to these people for reviewing more than _Five_ times! You guys rock!

**Skyinthenightslove**

**Tiara-shin**

**Alana-kittychan**

I enjoy feedback very, very much, so please keep sending them!


	9. Don't eat me

**Title:** It's cold and I am Lonely

**Summary:** A Tale as old as time, and true as it can be. Both a little scared, neither one prepared… You know where this is going. Beauty and the Beast with a twist. Toothless/Hiccup.

**Warning**: Eventual slash, mature themes, I guess.

**Disclaimer:** What part of FAN FICTION is hard to understand? I don't own Beauty and the Beast, and I don't own How to Train Your Dragon. They belong to whoever they do. I'm not here to make money; I'm just here to entertain.

"WHAT?"

Tuffnut wasn't a very violent boy, really. Okay, maybe that was pushing it a bit. Let's just say he's never contemplated killing anyone for _real_. But that was about to change _right now_ if Snotlout didn't have an explanation ready, like, yesterday.

Not that he wasn't happy about it. That is, it's not like he had anything against the Haddock boy. Hiccup was okay. A bit stuck up, sure, not to mention the biggest weakling this side of Odin's Bathtub (at least Fishlegs had this whole 'Immovable Mass' thing going), but generally okay. What really got his goat was that they'd gotten worked up over _nothing_.

'_I took a kick to the balls for this!'_

And all the Haddock boy was doing was going on a glorified camping trip with his father!

The chief probably wouldn't even let Hiccup _touch_ a dragon, much less kill one!

In the back part of his mind, a tiny voice was telling him that they'd be laughing about this one day. _'Hey, remember that time Snotlout almost married Hiccup to stop him from camping? Ahahahahah!'_

But he wasn't laughing right now. He wasn't anything except extremely annoyed.

"Dude, what gives?" He said.

Unfortunately, Snotlout hadn't recovered the power of speech yet. Tuffnut jumped the poor boy so fast not even Astrid could have stopped him.

_**PAGEBREAK**_

'_I take back what I said before.'_ Hiccup thought _'_This_ is the worst day of my life.'_

It certainly wasn't the best. Hiccup had planned to cut the ropes and run for his life. Hopefully, the dragon wouldn't follow him. Now, he was regretting everything, up to and including thinking up names for the new dragon species he had discovered. He had wanted his name in it, like _Hiccup's Deadly Skydog _or something awesome. It totally had to have an awesome word in it. Like, _death_ or _ebony_ or_ mighty_.

The name_ Hiccup's Sudden Death_ was sounding pretty prophetic right around now.

It seemed to him that, as soon as his dagger touched the ropes, the dragon was free. And very, very _mad_.

The dragon rose slowly, standing on two feet in front of him. It moved toward him, looming over the small boy like every nightmare he'd ever had. Its eyes were two green slits of pure rage.

Hiccup took a step back. Then another. Then another. And then… he tripped.

Hiccup barely noticed the cold snow he was half buried in. He kept inching back, and the dragon kept following. There was a silence in the air about them, broken only by the boy's heavy breathing and the crunching of snow beneath the two of them. It was if the world had stopped, and Hiccup feared his heart was about to do the same.

Hiccup was pressed against the large rock behind him now, and there was nowhere else to go. The dragon kept on coming, dropping to all fours as it did. He was so close that Hiccup could have reached out and touched it.

That was it for Hiccup. He held his arms above his head, curling up as small as he could. His eyes were closed, a last ditch attempt at the 'if I can't see it, it can't see me' defense.

He waited for the pain of a dragon mauling.

It didn't come.

After a minute of the mind-numbing fear, Hiccup peeked. And there, _so very close_ to his face, the dragon stared. He couldn't help it. He pushed it away, screaming. A suicidal move of there ever was one, but since he figured he was about to die anyway, might as well.

"Aaaah!" and then "Please don't eat me! Please don't eat me! _Please don't eat me! Pleasedon'teatme!_"

And the dragon didn't. It just took a moment to look annoyed and…hurt? before _roaring_ in the boy's face (_'I may never hear again.'_) and leaping away.

Hiccup watched it leave for a moment, but didn't see where it went.

Because he fainted.

_**PAGEBREAK**_

Stoick hated this place. It was cold and it stank to high heaven and he was pretty sure there was a dragon nearby. But worst of all, it was _damp_ while it was cold and that made him stiff. Weak. Was he going to die a dishonorable death in this— this _prison_?

He had to get out of here. His son…

'_Hiccup…'_

**A/N: **I've uploaded some MORE HtTYD fanart in DeviantArt! Just visit the link in my profile, or search my name. It's the same as this one.

I'm so embarrassed, I forgot to include **Crystal F. Flowright** last time, even though she has reviewed 6 times already.

Special mention to **Prodigous Feldspar**_, _**Randomstrike**, and **Deeper than Darkness**, who have all reviewed thrice now!

Also, I'm glad **skyinthenightslove** is better! I think I can safely say that Stoick won't be trying to pressure Hiccup into marrying Snotlout. That's all I can say for now.

To **Elmo-kibafangirl11**: thanks for pointing that out! I didn't know they did that.

To **Don'tKillKenny **and **Caris L. Clearwater**: I'm glad you found this so funny! I do try.

To **Randomstrike**: The slash will come soon, I promise. But don't get your hopes to high. I suck at writing it, I swear.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for reading and I hope you send me some feedback! I need some criticism for to make better mah work! (See? Without the guidance of you wonderful readers, I degenerate into Lolspeak!)


	10. Body of Water

**Title:** Body of Water

**Summary:** A Tale as old as time, and true as it can be. Both a little scared, neither one prepared… You know where this is going. Beauty and the Beast with a twist. Toothless/Hiccup.

**Warning**: Eventual slash, mature themes, I guess.

**Disclaimer:** What part of FAN FICTION is hard to understand? I don't own Beauty and the Beast, and I don't own How to Train Your Dragon. They belong to whoever they do. I'm not here to make money; I'm just here to entertain.

This chapter is dedicatedto** Eliasdarklight**. Did you know that Elias is the name of my favorite character from Noli me Tangere?

When Hiccup came to, it was well after noon. After _'Odin, why is it so cold?'_ and _'Thor almighty, please don't let the dragon come back.'_ His first thought was

'_Dad is going to _kill_ me.'_

As Hiccup stood up, he shook his head to clear the fog from his brain. He must have been more tired than he thought, to have remained unconscious for so long. He looked around, gathering his wits about him as well as making sure that the dragon was indeed gone. To be honest, he was more than a bit embarrassed by the entire ordeal. Imagine, _fainting_, just because a dragon got a wee bit too close for comfort. And he'd actually _begged_ the thing not to eat him.

Ugh, thank Odin no one saw that.

After brushing snow off himself (snow must have fallen heavily while he was out, because he looked like a snowman), Hiccup blew on his hands to warm them before making his way up the steep incline. He muttered thanks to Gefion, the goddess of luck, when he saw that his pack was untouched. Given that this was the middle of winter and a forest probably had at least a few hungry animals prowling about, it was a stroke of luck indeed.

He shouldered his packs and looked around. Raven's peak was over there, the sun was going to set in that direction, vaguely… He started walking towards the general direction of the inland lake.

As he walked, he tried to think about what he would tell his father. Would Stoick believe him if Hiccup told his father about the unknown dragon? But Hiccup was a bit wary about that. What if his father didn't believe him? The broken tree and the large trench in the soil would be moot. If he told his father, and his father didn't believe him…

The walk to the inland lake (or was it a large pond?) west of Raven's Peak seemed to take an incredibly short time, and before Hiccup knew it, he was there. The inland lake, well, Hiccup guessed all lakes were inland or else they wouldn't be lakes, but this one used to be underground, or so his father said.

One day, a star had fallen, obliterating the roof of the cave and revealing the lake. His father had kept the star, used up and looking like an ordinary rock though it did, more for novelty than anything (no one else had one). Stoick had given it to Hiccup's mother, Valhallarama, when he was still wooing her.

Anyway, point was, this lake was no ordinary lake. It was at the bottom of a large hole that used to be a cave, in other words, deep. Fortunately, Hiccup had found it by himself when he was younger, and knew about this narrow path through the rocks that would get him to the bottom without any rock-climbing involved. So he didn't bother peeking over the lip of the used-to-be-a-cave's precipice before starting down the aforementioned path, which started a bit away from the lake…pond…body of water.

Down the path he went, and he must not have gone there for longer than he thought, because he had to take his pack off several times, and the thing nearly got stuck right at the exit. But eventually, there he was. He was at the lake and…his father was not.

Hiccup blinked.

He walked to the middle of used-to-be cave and looked around. He turned in a complete circle to be sure, but there was no getting around the fact that Stoick wasn't there.

'_There are only two possibilities,'_ Hiccup thought.

The first one was that his father was late and any second now he'd shout to his son from the lip of the crater and start climbing down. It wasn't very likely and he didn't expect it. The other one was that his father had gotten bored and irritated waiting for him and had left to go hunting and would be back later. This is what Hiccup expected, so he didn't make room for any other possibility.

He then proceeded to make a small tent to the lee of a convenient rock formation, which took longer than he'd like to admit. When he finished, he sat down in it and produced a notebook from a pocket he had sewn inside his fur vest.

To be completely honest, the small notebook in his hand had a lot more accurate information on dragons than The Dragon Manual he'd borrowed from Fishlegs. In it were all the things he had observed from dragons: the different types and the variations therein, their eating and sleeping habits, he even had this point system thing going to determine how dangerous a particular dragon was.

Hiccup began to draw what he remembered. And ended up with a blank page. Beyond the color and general size of the thing, he hadn't really gotten a good look at it. He began writing, and ended up with a blank page for that as well. He didn't even know what to name it, considering he didn't know anything about it.

He replayed the experience in his head, trying to remember any details, but stopped almost as soon as he began. It was still too close to the almost-sudden-death to think about it for any extended period of time. Just thinking about it made his heart beat a bit faster, and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. As if someone was watching him.

'_You're being silly,'_ he told himself, but couldn't shake the feeling. He put away his dragon notebook and brought out another. He began sketching some ideas he had for a sword, to calm himself down. Two long, smooth strokes became the blade, two short ones for the handle. Hiccup drew, and drew, and drew. Outside the tent, the sun sank.

**A/N:** Short, I know, and after such a long absence too, but not only am I busy with my other story (the one for the HtTYD Big Bang), this is my first year in college, so please bear with the slow updates.

To **skyinthenightslove**: As usual, you get some things so right it's uncanny. Tell me the truth, did you hack my computer and check out my chapter guideline?

Anyway, a lot of people reviewed chapter nine, and I wish to thank you all!

Oh, and special mention goes to **Chibigirl**, who was the hundredth reviewer! Wow, I have a story with over a hundred reviews! Pinch me, I'm dreaming!

Just for that, I'm announcing that I'll be dedicating fanart to the 125th reviewer. And for every succeeding 25th increment after that until 200.

As usual, I'm incredibly grateful to those of you who didn't give up on me and are still reading this story.

Thanks! And feedback would be useful. Should I follow the Beauty and the Beast storyline more? I seem to be wandering a bit…


End file.
